PEOPLE who send kava to their families in the UK will not be able to do so now following stricter enforcement of their already-existing kava ban.
According to the UK Department of Health, the kava ban has been in place since January 2003 and enforcement will become stricter.
“The Kava-kava in Food (England) Regulations 2002 came into force on 13 January 2003 banning the sale, possession for sale, offer, exposure or advertisement for sale,” UK Health Department press officer Gillian Capewell said.
“In addition, the regulations also ban the importation into England, of any food consisting of, or containing, Kava-kava.”
However, despite this ban, there are some cases of kava imports from Fiji that have managed to get into the UK undetected; this has forced the UK authorities to take stricter measures on their approach to banning kava from entering the country.
“There has not been a change in the legislation recently. It appears that the enforcement action has raised awareness of the legislation.”
Ms Capewell said the kava ban in the UK, also on foods containing kava, was because of the risk of the containing kava, being a risk of severe liver damage to humans.
The UK Government’s kava ban has also forced British Army officials to ban the consumption of kava on any military compound.
“In rare cases, the use of kava has been associated with severe liver damage and the occurrence of liver damage is unpredictable and the mechanism is unclear,” a memo issued by the BA HQ Army-Amy Medical Directorate last August stated.
“Because of the unpredictable occurrence of liver damage, the Government and the Devolved Admirations have introduced legislation prohibiting the sale, possession for sale, offer, exposure or advertisement of sale and the importation of kava.”
The memo also stated any kava found in possession of personnel may also result in legal action by the enforcement authorities.
The Biosecurity Authority of Fiji maintains, however, they are not aware of any kava ban in the UK.
“Kava for personal consumption is allowed into UK. If there would have been a ban on personal consumption of kava to UK then BAF would have been informed of this through its counterpart in the UK which is the National Plant Protection Organisation in UK,” BAF executive chairman Xavier Riyaz Khan said.
